RIVAL DEMANDS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 79, 15 March 1934, Page 7

RIVAL DEMANDS

SECURITY AND EQUALITY Disarmament Difficulties POSITION NOT DESPERATE (British Official Wireless.) (Received 15, 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, March 14. Disarmament prospects were reviewed by Mr. Anthony Eden, Under-Secre-tary for Foreign Affairs, during the debate in the House of Commons. He remarked that in the difficult months of the conference, one of the most encouraging features had been the close collaboration between Britain and the United States. Only a few days ago President Eoosevelt hud issued a statement giving full support to the fresh initiative set forth in the British memorandum. Mr Eden reminded the House that the long delay of the conference was not owing to disagreement among the experts, but rather to the fact that the nations had been unable to summon up that confidence in one another which was necessary if the Convention was to be realised and kept. As an inevitable legacy of the war they had been conscious of the presence in Europe of two overmastering motives —on the one side mistrustful apprehension, and on the other aggravated impatience. Rival de mands for security on the one side and for equality on the other were only the vocal expressions of these sentiments. THE FRENCH ANXIETY. The anxiety of France was for security—a demand based in every French mind upon deep and abiding memories. Just as France had this instinctive desire, it seemed perhaps difficult for her to appreciate that it was possible that Germany might have the same feeling expressed in another form. France was so convinced that she had no intention of attacking ant one that she found it difficult to believe that another country not at present permitted to have comparable arma ments should not feel absolutely secure in her vicinity. France joined with Britain in regaid ing the League as the outward symbol of the collective peace system, and it was difficult for France to believe that a Great Power in Western Europe could remain long away from Geneva. Sometimes speeches were made that added to her fears. There was one in the last few days by General Goering. If there was a lack of instinctive trust between nations and of confidence, deep and abiding, it sometimes happened that comments of small importance had a greater significance. If these were the respective positions, not of the Governments but of the sentiments of the nations for some years past, it was clear that they could not be readily reconciled. How was it to be done, and could it »e done at all? When he asked himself, was it his experience on his brief mission to Europe that this was a hopeless task!' the answer he gave was: “No, decidedly no.” PESSIMISM PREMATURE. Until all replies had been received on the question of the British memorandum it was premature to be pessimistic. Britain’s stake in peace wag probably the greatest in the world, and her stake in the League was also great. If the Disarmament Conference failed, she would have as much cause for anxiety as any other nation, and every country would no doubt have to review all its armaments; but he did not believe that even a manifold increase in existing armaments would alone be sufficient to ensure our national security. Competitive armaments in themselves were no security. We had them in 191-1 and they availed us nothing in preventing war. By standing on our securityin armaments, we could not Hatter ourselves that we should then have realised the luxury of isolation. But, anxious as the situation was, he did not believe that it was desperate. Something was surely to be gained from the fact that public opinion among the nations was to-day alive to the seriousness and anxiety of the situation. That was not the case In 1914. He did not, therefore, accept the judgment of those who spoke as though war in Europe were imminent. But they had an urgent responsibility to get on with the work, for every month made the task more difficult. TWO-FOLD TASK. That task was two-fold. The first was to realise that a convention, not a spectacular convention —that was beyond our reach—but a convention containing some disarmament based on a realisation of the present position—in short a convention on the basis of the recent British memorandum.. The second was to seek to restore to the League that full authority it could only enjoy from the membership of all the Great Po-wers of Western Europe. Every development of science and policy since the war had increased the need for some such organisation as the League, and the widest possible membership had now become an indispensable element of international policy. What he had learnt in the three capitals had convinced him that there was no alternative to the general lines of the British memorandum if an agreement were to be reached on a disarmament convention at all. The Government would examine the replies of the three nations with sympathy and understanding and with the construction that no nation would willingly ‘ allow the final breakdown of the con--1 ferencc. f The debate is proceeding. t